There is a kind of cultivation that isn't about lilacs or lettuce, but that requires just as much patience and love as gardening. In talking about it, one might also use words like "sow," "plant," and 'nurture." These describe what oil painter-teacher Yurek Panek, who transplanted himself from Poland to the Pass over three decades ago, practices in cultivating new artistic talent in his Bellevue studio patch.
Panek sows the seeds of classical painting technique in sessions with private students. Just as gardeners turn the soil each spring, so Panek opens up the beginners' minds to discovery of their dormant creative potential.

e carefully "waters" in his painting and art history curriculum, each session, with an abundant stream of "straight talk" about how hard the work of developing one's unique style and technique can be. Over time, Panek makes clear his philosophy of what it takes to become a proficient artist, saying: "There is no such thing as a good artist who works at their craft either casually or part-time." It is this firmly implanted work ethic that helps students build a new, quiet confidence, as they learn to freely express themselves in clay, wood, plaster of Paris, or on paper and canvas.
... View the complete story in the March 24th issue of the Pass Herald.